The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer

Author:Eliot Schrefer [Schrefer, Eliot]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Young Adult Fiction, Science Fiction, General, Lgbtq, Thrillers & Suspense
ISBN: 9780062888259
Google: yDX6DwAAQBAJ
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2021-06-01T07:00:00+00:00

_-* Tasks Remaining: 80 *-_

Back in World Civ class we learned this term, schismogenesis, that’s been big on my mind lately. It comes into play hard within simple systems. Like, say, when the cultures of Earth are down to two nations. Or when two spacefarers are sealed into a ship.

The gist is this: when two parties are in direct interaction and have complementary reactions to each other, those reactions will heighten until they rupture. If Dimokratía makes a nuclear weapon for each one that Fédération makes, then Fédération does the same in response, the result is escalation until there’s enough nuclear weaponry to destroy the world a few times over. Case in point: the cold war that led to this divided ship.

That led to the end of civilization?

It works for people, too. If Person A turns submissive when Person B gets bullying, and B’s response is to get even more bullying as a result, that will cause increased submissiveness from A, then increased bullying from B, resulting in increased submissiveness again, until eventually you have a fatal level of aggression from B.

Normally it doesn’t get that far, because no one exists within a vacuum. Person C interrupts A and B. Cold wars can be best stopped by the wild card of a third country, or an external crisis.

On this spaceship, there is no third spacefarer. Especially if we’re now disregarding the communications from a hostile OS.

We are quite literally within a vacuum.

I’m thinking about all this right now in particular because I’m standing before the sealed orange portal to Kodiak’s half of the ship, and I hear a distant pounding. For it to be audible over the hum of the ship’s machinery, Kodiak is striking something very hard indeed.

I left for a few moments to get more supplies from my half of the ship, and this is what I’ve returned to.

“I cannot see the portion of the Aurora where Spacefarer Celius is right now,” OS says. “But from the vibrations I have detected, it is likely that he is doing significant damage to the ship.”

“Yeah, I know,” I whisper.

“I could withdraw Kodiak’s authorization to open the orange portal from his side,” my mother’s voice says. “This way, if he ruptures the hull, you will not perish along with him. I could accept sacrificing the Aurora, if it means maintaining mission integrity and reaching Minerva on Titan.”

I blink heavily. Is Kodiak really trying to destroy the ship? Part of me is surprised that I care. The first couple days after we got our news, I might not have. But now, on day three, what do you know—I care. The feeling has been there the whole time in the darkness, like a pilot light that’s always been flickering inside me: I will fight to live.

Kodiak and I parted ways after our walloping sledgehammer of bad news, and he’s been unresponsive since. I was happy to wallow on my own for a while, but I’ve started to really miss him. Also, connecting with him is the only chance I have for stopping him from killing us both.

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